At Hu Xue Yan's House

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Another day of exploring Hangzhou, this time with our professor Chen Ying. She told us to get on bus 16 and take it to Ping Hai Road which was the last stop. It’s a good thing she told us it was the last one because I thought she said Xing Hai Road, which is completely different. But she was waiting for us at the last bus stop so we needn’t have worried. First, she took us to an antiques building. Chinese antique shops are different than American ones. We have old furniture, clothing, pictures, knickknacks, and other random things that can be good or bad quality. But a Chinese antique shop is full of beautiful jewelry, pottery, some furniture, and artwork. The products are much more expensive than most antique shops in America too. After this, we walked down some streets with Miss Chen showing us different shops. We got some tea flavored ice cream, and it wasn’t that bad tasting.
For lunch, she had made reservations at a hot pot restaurant. A hot pot is filled with hot water, and charcoal heats it. Raw meat, mushrooms, cabbage, meatballs, and dumplings are brought out to add to the water to cook. This is a popular way to eat in the winter because the hot pot gives off a lot of heat, so in this weather, we were quite warm. But the food was good, even though a meatball slipped out of my chopsticks and landed in my sauce, which splattered all over my white shirt. All in all, it was a good meal. Miss Chen then took us to a traditional street full of shops. There were so many things to look at! I plan on going back to buy some things to take home, like a set of chopsticks or a traditional Chinese dress. There was also a museum that showcased different bronze works.
After the marketplace, we walked to an old mansion that was owned by a famous Chinese in the Qing dynasty. It was absolutely breathtaking with several courtyards, caves, and a fish pond. The mansion was like a maze; we kept coming into new rooms and had a hard time finding the way out. I couldn’t believe the amount of detail on every item. After the mansion, Carey and I were pretty much done for the day. I’m still not used to walking so much. Guess I’ll have to work on that because we’ll be doing a lot of it.

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Comments

[Jas]

Caves?
What exactly were the caves for in the mansion? Were the secret passages and escape routes? That would be sweet! :)

[TaylersRoad]

They were built just to look nice :) No secret passageways or escapes, he just had them put in because they looked cool. They aren't even natural!